>>Hi,
>>
>>I will be discussing (later this morning) with a company who is supposed to export the data from their SQL Server database with the goal that I will import it in my SQL Server database. Initially the agreement was that they will provide me with the CSV format files. My questions is, is this "the best" or "sufficient" that I can then import the data into my database? Or should I ask for another format? (the SQL Server backup is out of the question because their SQL Server database has their other customers' data).
>
>I prefer tab delimited, because of commas embedded in text fields, which don't necessarily get escaped and one can't be sure that all text fields are wrapped in quotes. Also, another nice feature is to have LF for line breaks inside the text fields (aka memos in foxspeak) but CR for record delimiters.
>
>This means I usually get these exports as excel sheets and then export them into this format. I even wrote a LibreOffice macro for that :).
Thank you. I agree with you that the commas in the text field could be a problem. But the meeting already took place and they will send me the files in CSV format. I hope I won't have too many problems.
"The creative process is nothing but a series of crises." Isaac Bashevis Singer
"My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all." Oscar Wilde
"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too." W.Somerset Maugham
